DAY 666 - Is Prayer The Most Powerful Spiritual Weapon? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

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Confirmation from John Stott in 2009: 
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My MicroMacro Discipleship, A missing DNA in Discipleship Development: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-micromacro-discipleship.html
Subject Shifting Devotion Method(Inspired by John Stott in 1991: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

                               Today's Reading: Ephesians 6:18-24

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:

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To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:

 .Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf

Please click this link to read Ephesians 6:18-24

English(ESV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+6&version=ESV

Chinese: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=以 弗 所 書 6&version=CUV

Bible Study

     Paul gives us an interesting point here in this passage. Many people complete the list of the full armour of God at verse 17. So, verse 18 is being consider as Paul's request for the Ephesians to pray for him. But, some commentators says the list of full armour of God should include verse 18. 

Bishop N.T. Wright says ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
      Verse 18 is sometimes taken as a continuation of the 'complete armour' of the previous passage, as though 'all prayer' is itself part of the armour.  There is truth in this, though Paul does not mention here a specific weapon or article of clothing.  The point of prayer is, rather, that it accomplishes things we couldn't do by our own effort, organization or skill.

    One of the great Christian leaders of the twentieth century, Archbishop William Temple( 1881-1944), declared that whatever else one might say about whether prayer worked, he had notice that when he prayed, 'coincidences'  happened; and when he stopped praying, the 'coincidences' stopped happening…

     Paul knows that the prayers even of young and inexperienced Christians are every bit as powerful and valid in God's presence as those of a seasoned apostle.  And he knows that their prayers for him are therefore just as important as his for them. 

N.T. Wright. Paul for Everyone:Te Prison Letters. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p.78.

     So, what have you got from today's passage and bishop Wright's inspiration? Do you think that prayer is part of the full armour of God? 
     

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

    The title I heard from Jesus today is: Is prayer the most powerful spiritual weapon?

    The message I got from Jesus today is very challenging and important. We are talking not only whether prayer should be consider as part of the full armour of God but whether prayer is the most powerful part as compare to all the other parts in the full armour of God.

    Well, I do not have an answer. Or, should I say, I do not want to put an answer here that I can not get enough proof. But, you need to know that all those parts of the full armour of God belongs to you except prayer. Prayer is beyond what you have because Paul is talking about mutual prayers.

    Without prayer, a warrior of God might fight his or her own warfare without any team member. With prayers, there is a team, may be a big team. That's another story if you have a big team of soldiers of God having full armour fighting side by side with you. Totally different!

     Yes, I do think that prayer is the most powerful spiritual weapon of all! That's why Jesus disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. And, there are so many powerful examples of prayers in the Bible and in the history of mankind.
    
Dear Lord Jesus,
Teach us to pray so that we know and experience the great power of prayer.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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You may choose to follow my other daily blog: 

Daily Devotion on Fire 2(2 years plan -One year New Testament, one year Old Testament): 

http://bishopsilas2.blogspot.ca/

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 

http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/

Break.Build (40 days daily devotion- For Renewal or First Step for new Christians): http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Emmanuel330 (40 weeks First Step Bible Study): 

http://emmanuel330.blogspot.ca/

This blog:

Discipler 123 (Daily devotion using N.T. Wright's NT for Everyone as source)

http://discipler123.blogspot.ca/